Future New York teachers avoid state's new pension plan

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Prospective full-time teachers are scrambling to get into the current state pension tier before a reform measure designed to save New York taxpayers billions of dollars takes effect New Year's Day.

The change adopted earlier this month means new hires as of Jan. 1 will receive less generous retirement benefits than teachers vested under the current pension plan.

New York State United Teachers alerted prospective teachers that they could "lock in" coverage under the more generous pension plan by working as a substitute teacher for just one day before Jan. 1.

State Teachers Retirement System records show that as of Tuesday, almost 3,200 workers have joined the system this month under the more generous tier. Last year, just more than 1,000 workers joined the system in December.